Phoenix House Orange County and the 2012 AIDS Awareness Walk

Friday, June 8th, 2012

Clients and staff from Phoenix House Orange County‘s Recovery Maintenance Services have recently showed their generosity and community commitment by participating in an AIDS Awareness fundraiser. The program’s manager, Teresa Yuch heard about the event and formed a team by sending out e-vites and assembling a group of 10 participants. Phoenix House raised $1,150 for this worthy cause. Each walker had to raise a minimum of $50 in order to be eligible for the walk. All participants met at the Phoenix House Orange County in Santa Ana on the day of the walk (May 6, 2012) at 5:30 am. From there, they carpooled to Disneyland where the walk was held.

The program created an opportunity for new and seasoned clients of Phoenix House programs to interact and share. The event was quite exciting because of its setting: it was a 5k walk through Disneyland and the California Adventure theme parks.

Theresa Yuch stated: “We interacted with others and enjoyed the entertainment provided. We talked about how the function was helping nonprofit programs like REACH to continue to give free testing and education to people… There was some really profound thinking about being a part of something bigger than just the day’s problem of being in rehab. We then brought the residents back to Phoenix House Orange County and all met at Denny’s for a nice breakfast.”

The educational value of this project reached well beyond the funds raised for the AIDS Awareness causes. Staff and clients had an opportunity to share the experience of community volunteering: doing the right thing and helping others is fun!